Another Collection
by TinySprite
Summary: A fourth prompt table for Dragon Flyz! Again, each chapter is a one-shot unless otherwise stated.
1. First Kiss

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC are mine.

(-)

It was a nice, quiet day for one certain blond teenager, though he wasn't happy about being grounded. It wasn't because of anything serious, no, it was because today was one of his 'school days' and as such, he wasn't allowed to do any flying of any sort until school was over.

Thankfully it was now the self study period, which he luckily had right after lunch. Sitting at one of the tables in the school's library, Peak stared at his science book without really seeing it. He tapped his pencil idly on his note pad, mentally more focused on figuring out a new flight maneuver than memorizing equations and formulas.

A distraction soon came to him in the form of Jan, his best friend. She sat herself next to him at the table, dropping her bright yellow book bag next to his dark green one. Peak smiled at her but before he could say anything, she asked, "Hey Peak, you haven't been kissed yet right?"

He went red, which gave her the answer right away regarding the status of his first kiss. Despite that, he still protested in a hiss, "What's that got to do with anything?!"

His friend idly ran a hand through her currently hot pink hair tipped with bright purple and stated, "Because Emma is going around saying that she's your girlfriend and that you two make out every chance you get."

Peak groaned and dropped his head onto his school book. His muffled voice floated up to Jan, "I don't even know who you're talking about and I most certainly don't have a girlfriend."

Unseen by him, Jan nodded in satisfaction, "Good, because I called her out on it in the hallway right before I came in here. She was pretty upset at me about it too."

The teen boy raised a hand to make a half-hearted attempt to flick her arm, not even caring that he missed by several inches, "Bad Jan. Don't play with fire."

She just giggled and dug into her book bag to pull out her math book, "Help me study? I'll give you tips in history, like usual."

Peak sighed and gave in, raising his head to look at the book, "Which section?"

Having been her friend since the beginning of high school, he was well used to her by now. Eh, it kept school from being boring at least.


	2. Final

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC's are mine.

(-)

Councilman Joshua tried to hide his relief as the final meeting of the day drew to a close. They'd gotten a lot of work done that day and everyone was, if not outright happy, at least satisfied with many of the agreements they'd settled on.

He glanced around at the council, "Now, before we call it a day, were there any other matters of business that need to be brought to the council's attention?"

He privately hoped there wouldn't be any, though of course those hopes were dashed when a hand was raised and a woman's voice called out, "Yes, I have an important matter to discuss!"

Joshua neatly hid a wince as he recognized the voice and he saw more than a few of his fellows do the same. He tried to head her off, "Councilwoman May, if it's what you've been bringing up constantly at the other meetings, perhaps you should wait for the next meeting and bring it up first thing? That way we can all consider it with fresh minds?"

She was a minor councilwoman, working under Councilman Adams, who himself was in charge of Education. May dealt specifically with the arts classes, what few there were, and had been hounding the Council for months regarding her section's budget.

The brunette woman frowned at him and jabbed a finger in his direction, "I've done that before and it got brushed aside! Now I demand we re-consider the budget for the Arts programs!"

There was a groan from several of the other council members. One of them glared at her, "What is there to re-consider? The Arts programs get few applicants and do nothing but suck up valuable resources!"

May turned to focus her glare on the other councilor, "Well maybe we would get more applicants if our programs were better funded! As it is, we can only offer a painting course, a sculpting course and a combined history course on art appreciation and the great artists throughout history!"

Joshua intervened quickly to avoid a shouting match, "Councilwoman May, what exactly are you hoping to cover under a new budget? From what I've read of your reports, your courses get adequate supplies and materials for the number of students in them."

She sighed and told him, "I'd like for us to start offering a proper drawing course at least, not something that's shoved in with the painting course. That costs the painting course almost a month at the beginning, teaching students the basics of professional drawing so they don't feel lost when planning out their pieces. Plus it would give students the option to take one or the other, instead of forcing them to take both."

May hesitated, seemed to reconsider something, then sighed again and added, "Failing that, I'd at least like to hire on another teacher so we could either split our current history course or more preferably offer another history course on something else, like music appreciation."

Joshua nodded and made a show of writing something down on an electronic notepad, "Alright, I've written down that we'll talk about the Arts programs' budget first thing tomorrow. Is that sufficient?"

She tightened her lips in an almost frown but nodded, "That's fine, so long as we actually talk about it and not gloss over the subject."

Taking the presented chance, Joshua addressed the council again, "And with that, I do believe we are done for the day. Until tomorrow everyone."

At the clear closing statement, many of the others quickly fled the council room, eager to either get home and relax or to get back to their offices and put in motion agreed upon plans from today's meetings.

Before she left, Councilwoman May gave Joshua a pointed look, "We _will_ discuss the budget tomorrow?"

He motioned to the notebook, "First subject, like I said."

She frowned but gave in and left, seeming at least a little satisfied at the arrangement. Councilman Joshua let out a relieved breath and left the room himself, wanting to get home and put the stress of the day behind him.

He didn't look forward to tomorrow, not with that sensitive issue looming on the horizon.


	3. Numb

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

The days following after the day that Iranda went missing, the situation hadn't actually sunk in to Aaron. Oh, he understood what it meant when the search parties came back empty-handed and when he himself couldn't find her in that pyramid building.

Even when he had to comfort his children, trying to reassure them that their mother was alright and would be found soon, it still didn't 'click' for him. He basically went from one day to the next in a numb state, completing his work almost robotically when he wasn't trying to find Iranda.

It all finally sank in almost a week later, when he'd made two cups of coffee and brought them back to the bedroom, only to drop one onto the bed in an attempt to give it to a wife that wasn't there. Staring in dulled confusion at the mug on the bed and the spreading coffee stain on the sheets, Aaron's tired brain at last faced reality.

Iranda was gone, vanished in a wild goose chase to find a portal that didn't even exist. A traitorous voice in the back of his head whispered that he was doing the same, searching for an Oasis that couldn't be. Guilt hit him first, with the knowledge that it had likely been his own talk of the Promised Land that had spurred Iranda to seek out other possibilities for a new home for Airlandis and its people.

Next came anger. Why hadn't she told anyone else?! Why had she gone to the Star Ridge and the pyramid alone, with only a single dragonator for assistance?! Why hadn't she left a note, taken a communicator, something, anything to let others...to let him know where she gone and what she'd planned to do?!

On a spur of rage, Aaron threw his own cup of coffee at the wall. The cup shattered, spilling its liquid contents all over the wall where it dripped down in rapid little streams. Aaron stared at it, almost not believing that he'd done that. It'd have to be cleaned soon, lest it stain the wall.

For some reason, that was the thing that made him break down further, finally crying over his loss. He sank down onto the bed, not caring about the coffee stains on the sheets and put his head into his hands and wept.

She was gone. His dear Iranda was gone and unlikely to ever come home. No longer would he find her at her job in the Library. No more would he come home to find her with their children, cheerfully directing them about their chores and homework or playing with them, all while trying to get dinner made at the same time. Never again would she come to his lab, either to drag him out of there to get some sleep or to spend a few quiet moments together before they returned to the working chaos of their home.

Aaron wept for all that and more, losing track of time as he did so.

Finally, a sound pierced through his gloom, bringing his attention to other matters. It took him several minutes before he realized, to his shame, that the sound was his youngest child crying, likely for breakfast. Mentally and physically exhausted, Aaron nonetheless looked at the crib, trying to steel himself so as to face another day.

But to his horror, Peak wasn't in the crib. Jumping off the bed, Aaron ran over to it, yanking at the blankets in a fruitless effort to find the baby. In his panic, he almost didn't realize that he could still hear the crying and that it was in fact coming from outside the room.

Once he realized it though, Aaron ran out of the room and followed the sound to the kitchen, where he came onto a scene of chaos.

Z'neth had Peak and was trying to calm the shrieking infant down while at the same time trying to say something to his other siblings. Apex and Summit were screaming at each other and it looked like they were just seconds away from throwing blows. Poor Dram was trying to stay on the sidelines while also attempting to clean up what looked like spilled milk from the kitchen floor.

Aaron nearly snapped but somehow held his temper as he demanded, "What is going on here?!"

The kids looked at him instantly. Apex and Summit stopped their argument but were still sending each other dirty looks as they both tried to talk at once, pointing at each other. Aaron yelled, "Enough!"

They fell quiet, both clearly still upset. Aaron looked at Z'neth, "What happened?"

His eldest shifted Peak in his arms, looking to be in pain from the baby's crying, "Peak needs a bottle but there aren't any more in the fridge."

Summit cut in, "So I was trying to make one but-"

Apex interrupted, "You can't give a baby regular milk! He needs formula!"

The second son whirled on his sister, snarling, "Regular milk is fine! We just need to warm it up!"

She snarled back, "No it isn't! The formula is way better and -"

Aaron cut them off then, "Enough!"

He looked at Dram, "What are you doing?"

The draman child shrugged nervously, practically mumbling, "The milk container got knocked over...I was trying to clean it up..."

Aaron took a deep breath and held it for a minute. After releasing it, he had a plan of action. Moving to Z'neth, he took Peak from him, to the boy's gratitude, "All of you, get ready for school. I'll take care of this."

Z'neth answered while rubbing his ears, "Father, we don't have school today, it's the weekend."

Aaron blinked, "Oh."

Turning to the others, he said, "Then Summit, there should be a container of formula mixture in the cabinet right behind you. Follow the instructions on the back for making a bottle. Apex, help Dram clean up the milk. Z'neth...help Summit or just.."

Aaron trailed off but his eldest son was already speaking, "I'll try and get breakfast started, Father."

The man nodded and looked down at his infant son. Aaron had let Peak chew on his thumb while he'd been speaking to the other children. It was painful, yes, but it'd given them the necessary precious few minutes of quiet that they'd needed to calm down.

Plus...Aaron felt he'd deserved the pain. How could he have gotten so out of it as to lose track of the children? He felt guilty again at the thought of what else had likely gone neglected while he'd been wrapped up in his depressed state.

The small baby spat out his father's thumb, starting up his cries again. Thankfully Summit had gotten a bottle ready and gave it to their father, who in turn gave it to the baby. Peak immediately began to feed, little arms coming up as if to hold onto the bottle by himself. Looking at the others, Aaron asked them, "After breakfast, why don't we go to the park today?"

While they didn't exactly jump up in agreement, no one refused either. Aaron decided to take that as a good thing. They needed to get out of the house, to do something normal and family-like. After that, they could focus on other things. But right now, they just needed to do something that would distract them.

Looking back down at the baby, Aaron quietly swore to himself that he'd do better by them.

So that following night, when Aaron finally re-entered his study for the first time after Iranda's disappearance and found the holo-disk, he made the decision to hide it from the children.

After all, it would only bring them more pain in the end. But it did make him renew his vow to find her, to rescue Iranda from where ever she was on Old Earth.

It was a vow that became beaten into the dust as the days, weeks, months and finally years passed with no sign of her.


	4. Broken Wings

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This references events that happened in the Writer's Choice section of the first prompt table.

_/talk/_ = mental speaking

(-)

This was bad. This was horrendously bad.

Having had several fights with Dread Wing and his forces in the past, the Dragon Flyz were well used to coming out with injuries to either themselves or their dragons. It was an unavoidable outcome most of the time.

But this...it had never happened to them before. Never before had the mutants gone after their dragons' _wings_!

Apex couldn't scream as she and Blaze Wind spiraled down in a lethal fall, her throat frozen in terror and shock. Her unique bond with her dragon was backfiring on her as the pain of his broken wing echoed in her own arm, practically paralyzing the limb.

It had all happened so fast! She'd been in an aerial fight with Nocturna and it'd been in Apex's favor but then...then Nocturna's dragon had snapped at Blaze but Blaze had been turning and couldn't get out of the way in time...

Her eyes were drawn to the injury on her dragon, her best friend and she could see it being made worse by their free-fall, the tears in his wing being forced open wider as Blaze desperately tried to slow their fall, to gain height, to do _something_ to ensure their survival.

She cried out as the wounds got worse, feeling both her dragon's pain and the echoing pain in her arm. Blaze roared with her, in both pain and panic. A small, terrified part of her realized that she and Blaze Wind were going to die. Broken wings were horrific injuries for a dragon, but on Airlandis it could have been treated.

Even if they did somehow survive this fall, Blaze was as good as dead on Old Earth. There would be no safe place for treatment, no shelter for him to heal in and no way to get him back to Airlandis.

Though she could have released the saddle handles and activated her exo-wings to save herself, Apex didn't dare do that. Besides the dangerous risks of doing so, Blaze Wind was practically her other half. Loosing him would kill her emotionally, and likely literally in this event.

As the ground came rushing up at them, Apex closed her eyes and tried to prepare herself for the impact. She could hear the roars of the other dragons, even somewhat make out the cries of her siblings and tried to apologize to them, though for what she wasn't sure.

/_NO!/_

The word echoed in her head just as Apex felt a new kind of pain, like something was trying to forcibly hold her still during the free fall. Blaze Wind let out a shrieking roar of pain and Apex could somehow hear the word rebounding between them as it passed from her mind to his and back.

There was that feeling of mental static she'd felt once before, but it was different now, more painful and with an increased sensation of 'static'. Blaze roared again, frantically flapping his free wing as miraculously their fall _did_ slow and once more Apex found everything going painfully dark yet bright at the same time.

Yet this time she was conscious through it, the pain in her body forcibly keeping her awake. There were...whispers of something in the back of her head, dancing on the edge of her knowledge and flashes of images, some she couldn't make out but others that she could. She recognized Airlandis and the dragon sanctuary and _reached_ for it with a desperation she'd never felt before.

Another different sensation, like she and Blaze were being shoved through thick mud and that other one of everything going painfully dark yet bright at the same time came back again.

Then came the impact.

But it wasn't the deadly one she was expecting. It was a short, sudden fall that had her tumbling out of the saddle in shock and landing on a metallic floor. A _golden_ metallic floor!

Stunned and more than a little shocked, Apex looked up in a daze in time to see a dragon caretaker staring at her with comically wide eyes before running off, screaming for help. The other dragons present got over their own shock and began to roar for assistance, a few moving to see if they couldn't help Blaze Wind.

Wobbly, Apex forced herself to her feet and staggered to Blaze's other side to see his wing. The injury was bad. Nocturna's dragon had bitten him just to the left of Blaze's wing claw and their fall had done even more damage. She could see that the bone was broken in more than one place and the wing flesh torn and shredded but they were _home_.

Blaze Wind would get proper treatment and protection and he would _live_. Her white and purple dragon moved his head slowly, settling his yellow eyes on hers and weakly sent her sensations of confusion. Apex shook her head and broke, falling to her knees as she collapsed against Blaze's neck and wept.

As she heard the shouting of caretakers rushing over to give him emergency treatment, Apex sent him comforting sensations, the best she could do at the moment. At some point, she was gently pulled away from her dragon to be taken to Medical for an examination herself.

Except for some minor scrapes, most of Apex's injuries were emotional and mental. She consented to taking a sedative and an observational period so as to rest for a little bit.

She woke up suddenly though, to shouting and people rushing around. She sat up and stepped out of her little room to see Summit arguing with a nurse. He saw her before she could say anything and ran over to her, worry clear in his eyes, "Apex! Are you alright?! What happened?!"

Apex shook her head, "I..I don't know...one minute Blaze Wind and I were falling, then the next we were back on Airlandis."

Summit bit his lip and looked around before leaning in to whisper to her, "Peak did it. I don't know how but he did and something weird happened with Storm too."

"What?!" Apex stared back at her brother but Summit didn't make her wait, still whispering, "I was right above them, so I saw it. Storm's eyes went silver too, during your and Blaze's fall. Right after you both vanished, I had to get onto Storm's saddle because Peak went limp and nearly fell out of it. Wing Storm almost fell too, but he regained his senses and was able to fly back by himself when Z'neth called the retreat."

She shook her head, not understanding, "I...I don't get it."

Shoving the confusion aside, she gazed back up at her older brother, "What happened next? What's going on now?"

Summit sighed, "Peak's here, because he was still passed out when we arrived back at the city. Storm's in the sanctuary and last I heard, he's in a deep sleep. Blaze Wind needed surgery but they're confident they can save his wing. Right now, Z'neth's trying to calm the Council with down Father's help but he said they'd try and come by later to see you and Peak."

Apex nodded gratefully, feeling tears coming back to her eyes at the news. She mentally reached out for her dragon, but only encountered the sticky heaviness of drugged sleep, which was good. It meant he could rest without pain, which was all she wanted at that moment.

Certainly the Council was in an uproar and it was very likely that Dread had witnessed the event but Apex couldn't find it in herself to care right then. Everyone was home, everyone was safe and most of all, Blaze Wind would live.

They could deal with the rest later as it came.


	5. Melody

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This is a sequel to Broken Wings.

(-)

Apex sighed happily and sipped her coffee.

While her arm still pained her, she took comfort in the knowledge that Blaze Wind was safe and receiving top quality medical care. As it stood, Blaze would be off the fighting roster for at least six months. Four months for him to heal, then two months to get back into fighting shape, though for the final two he could still run patrols around the city at least.

Until then, Apex was reassigned elsewhere. Normally in cases like these, the rider was put on city guard duty, but with her abilities, Apex's time was neatly split between aiding the dragon caretakers and helping out with the new dragonators and the cadets.

There was plenty for her to do too. Between bond reading, checking on the dragons' health and aiding with bonding exercises, she barely had a free minute on her shifts.

The only thing still worrying her was that, while Peak had finally woken up earlier that morning, he claimed he didn't remember the event. But her brilliant mind was already supplying her with reasons as to why that would be so, from trauma to mental strain.

Sighing again, she finished off her coffee and tossed the disposable cup into a trash can before she entered the dragon sanctuary through one of the smaller entrances. The chaotic, yet soothing melody of various dragon sounds met her, bringing a smile to her face.

Well, time to get to work!


	6. Rules

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

In the dead of night, the young teenager known as Summit was yanked straight out of a good sleep by something hitting his stomach.

Sitting up suddenly, he nearly hit his little brother in the head and even that took a minute to sink in, given his confused state. What finally brought him up to speed was the sound of snuffling and his blanket being pulled to the side as Peak tried to climb in with him.

Groaning, Summit stopped him, pointing to Peak's own bed on the other side of the room, "No Peak. You know the rules! You're supposed to sleep in your bed, not mine!"

There was a weak protest, "B-but, Peak had a scary dream!"

Summit groaned again, "Come on Peak, you're a big boy now. You don't need to sleep with me every time you have a nightmare."

Another snuffle came to his ears but Summit tried to stay firm, "It's just a dream Peak, you'll be alright. Now go to back to bed."

There was a whimper and Summit's thin resolve caved, though he'd blame it on just how late it was. Sighing, he relented, "Fine, but just tonight, okay? Next time, you stay in your own bed."

But Peak wasn't listening, already scrambling onto the bed the very second Summit told him he could. Shaking his head, Summit shifted in the bed to give Peak some room and pulled the blanket over his little brother, "There, better?"

The four year old nodded rapidly, clutching his stuffed dragon doll like a life-line as he got comfortable. Watching his youngest sibling drifting back off to sleep, Summit settled back into bed and yawned.

Tomorrow, he'd tell Peak again that the little kid had to stay in his own bed at night. Yeah...tomorrow...


	7. Chocolate

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This takes place in the AU mentioned in the second prompt table's Writer's Choice series.

(-)

Peak hummed to himself as he worked in the small kitchen that Dread had basically given to him on Warnado. It was one of the lesser ones, only really big enough to feed two or three people from it but Peak loved it.

It almost felt traitorous to admit, but he preferred cooking on Old Earth over cooking on Airlandis. All of the kitchens back home had been constructed with convenience and time-saving in mind. Most of the appliances for it had also been greatly improved since the launch of the city all those centuries ago. So between the replicators and the multipurpose 'oven', a lot of Airlandian cooking could be done with minimal prep time and some button pushing.

While it was an answered prayer to many humans, Peak wasn't satisfied with it. There was just something about the old way of cooking that felt more rewarding and satisfactory, even if it meant more work and time consumed.

When Dread had found out, he'd offered Peak the use of this kitchen and it'd practically been the teen's ever since. The only addition he'd made to it (besides when he needed new cookware) had been a small food replicator for the ingredients he couldn't get either easily or at all on Old Earth. Since Peak had settled into the tiny kitchen, many a dark dramen had found a nice snack there and Nocturna had long ago laid claim to at least a portion of anything made with strawberries in it.

Smiling to himself, Peak checked on the cookies he had in the oven. Seeing that they needed another minute, he turned to finish the prep work for next batch of cookies to be made. It was a good thing he'd still been looking downward during his turn or else he would have kneed the mutant child in the chest.

Staring down at him in shock, Peak fumbled for something to say, "Uh...hi?"

He got a silent stare in return. Trying to work out how the child had gotten into the kitchen without Peak hearing the door open, Peak took the chance to look over the small mutant.

The boy was a very dark shade of blue and had the typical slitted yellow eyes of a mutant. What was odd though, was that his wings were out. As far as Peak knew, normally mutants kept their wings tucked away in their backs (how that worked, he still wasn't sure) for convenience and only brought them out when they absolutely had to.

Another thing different were his ear fins. While some mutants had regular ears of sorts, others had fin-like ears instead. This child's was something like a cross of the two. Peak could see where the ear part was and the fin was on the outside edge of it, giving the mutant boy the rough image of bat ears. Actually, they were almost like a larger version of Nocturna's ears, now that he thought of it.

The boy's clothes were typical of mutants though: an armored chest piece with matching pants and boots. The chest piece covered some of the shoulders and reached around the mid and lower back but didn't extend to the upper back, making room for the wings to easily move.

Realizing that he was still being stared at, Peak tried to think of a better ice-breaker and spotted the plate of cookies he'd already made. Picking one up, he offered it to the boy, "Cookie? They're chocolate chip."

The child's gaze went from him to the cookie, deeply suspicious. The small mutant leaned forward to sniff it and visually judged it for a long minute before carefully accepting the treat from Peak. Keeping his eyes on the human, the boy nibbled along the edge of the cookie, very likely tasting it for the first time.

Peak had to keep himself from laughing when the boy's eyes lit up and the cookie vanished in two large bites. The small boy licked the crumbs greedily from his lips and fingers before holding up a hand at Peak with an impatient look on his face.

Knowing what the child wanted, Peak began to reach for another cookie, asking, "What do you say?"

The boy looked confused and after a minute, stomped his foot while still holding his hand out. He seemed satisfied with himself and frowned when the teen shook his head. Peak lightly reprimanded him, "No. When you want something, you ask for it and say please."

Now the small mutant looked completely confused and Peak had to remind himself that he wasn't on Airlandis. Mutants and dark dramen often lived by a snatch and grab culture, with words like 'thank you' and 'please' only being used in mockery or extreme desperation. If the boy was here in Warnado, then he had to be attached to someone in a position of power, which meant that he was used to either getting things when he wanted or outright taking them.

Remembering that tidbit, Peak grabbed the plate of cookies just as the mutant child went for it. Holding it out of his reach, Peak shook his head, "Nope. These are mine. If you want one, you have to ask for it."

Growling at him, the mutant child stomped at him and made as if to charge his legs. Peak saw the feint and side-stepped the real attack, which would have been a sharp kick to his shins. Mentally cursing the fact he was in civilian clothes and not his dragonator uniform with its protective armor, Peak shook his head again, "Got to be faster than that."

Frustrated now, the small boy returned to his earlier tactic, which was to hold a hand out in a demanding fashion, but in the direction of the plate. Knowing a stalemate when he saw one, Peak relented and got a cookie from the plate. Before he gave it to the boy, he stated, "If you want this cookie, you have to promise not to attack me again. Understood?"

A grumpy look on his face, the blue mutant nodded. Peak added on, "Alright then, so you promise not to attack me again? In any fashion, which includes sneak attacks, back stabbings and 'forgetting' said promise?"

The blond had well learned to be very specific when on Warnado. The small mutant growled again, but nodded and held both of his hands out now. Feeling satisfied that that was the best he'd get, Peak got a second cookie off the plate and gave both to the boy, "There you go."

The treats were all but snatched from his hand, with the mutant child jumping back to quickly eat them, almost like he feared Peak would take the cookies back if he didn't.

Then Peak did a stupid thing. He put the cookie plate down and turned his back to it. In his defense though, the cookies in the oven had started to burn a little so Peak had wanted to get them out quickly before they actually burned. While he was occupied with that, there was a sudden clatter and he heard the kitchen door open and shut, all with the sound of running feet the whole time.

Whipping around, the blond swore when he saw that the plate of cookies was gone. Dropping the pan of cookies onto the stove top, Peak shot out of the small kitchen to chase down the mutant boy.

He never did catch him, though he later found the empty cookie plate in a corner of Dread's throne room, licked clean of crumbs.

Grumbling as he stomped back to his kitchen, Peak growled to the empty air, "I hope you get a stomachache from all that sugar."


	8. Nostalgia

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Trisha gave Iranda a soft smile, "Sorry to bother you about this, but the children were insistent."

Iranda returned her friend's smile, "It's not a bother at all! I'm happy they want to hear me play."

As Iranda was one of the very few on the _Explorer_ who knew about instruments and could actually play the antique piano, Trisha's class had apparently begged her to ask Iranda to give them a tiny concert of sorts 'for a live History lesson'.

So Trisha had met with Iranda for lunch to discuss it. So far, they had it worked out that Iranda would play, then the students would discuss what they'd liked about it afterwards.

The other blonde woman laughed a little, "You're so good with kids Iranda! It's amazing!"

Iranda's smile faltered, "Well, I do have little ones of my own back home, though I bet they're no longer so little by now..."

Trisha winced, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

Iranda shook her head, "No, it's fine. I'd rather think about them in a positive light anyway than stay depressed."

Taking the unsaid cue, the teacher asked curiously, "So what are your children like? I know about your husband a little but..."

The librarian sighed, "Aaron is a wonderful man, that goes without saying. As for our children, I had...have five."

Trisha's eyebrows shot up in disbelief, "Really?"

Iranda nodded, her voice filled with nostalgia as she spoke, "Dram is our eldest. Though we adopted him in after he lost his home, I've always considered him my own child. He'd always follow Aaron around whenever he wasn't helping me with his siblings. I wonder what he's up to now... After him is Z'neth, my eldest from Aaron. He was always such a studious and helpful boy! I wonder if he followed his father's footsteps partially and became a researcher..."

Letting out a sigh, Iranda continued on, "Summit came next, my little mischief maker! He was always up to something when he wasn't being watched! He had a good sense of right and wrong though, so I bet he joined the dragonators. Then there's my only daughter, Apex. She had Aaron's stubbornness and my patience, so I wonder what she's doing now, probably a researcher if not a caretaker for the biospheres. She always did have a soft spot for animals after all."

She stopped then and Trisha took in what she'd been told. After a minute, she frowned and hesitantly asked, "And your last child?"

Iranda sighed, her voice going soft now, "My baby, Peak. He was such a good baby too. He barely cried and loved being held."

She paused to dab gently at her eyes with a napkin, "He was only about five months old when I left. I can only hope he's doing alright but I know he is, because his siblings are with him as is Aaron."

Trisha reached over to gently pat Iranda's other hand, clearly uncertain how to proceed from here. Iranda spared her the trouble and changed the subject herself. Visibly collecting herself, she asked her friend, "So, did your students have anything specific they wanted me to play or would a general selection be fine?"

Grateful for the subject change, Trisha dove into it, working out the plans for the event with Iranda.


	9. Heartbeat

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Cifex felt he didn't deserve Apex.

She was so beautiful, so elegant, so strong and just so _perfect_.

Him? He wasn't even a real man. He was a weird form of cyborg, constructed of lab made flesh wrapped around a metal frame with a bio-organic brain full. Apex deserved someone who could truly make her happy, which Cifex felt he couldn't do, not as he was.

So when the Dragon Flyz found him during one of their patrols on Old Earth, it was to his utmost surprise that Apex practically threw herself at him as soon as Blaze Wind landed. As her arms wrapped around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder, crying, Cifex felt that odd pulse in his chest (the one that he always thought of as his heartbeat) go racing.

He held her back, being mindful of his strength as he did so. This was the best thing he could ever ask for, to know that she still loved him as much as he loved her.

He'd brave Dread Wing all over again just because of that...or rather, in their current situation, the ire of her youngest brother and the irritation of her older ones. Cifex didn't care, as right then, no price was too great if it meant he would be with Apex again.


	10. Stranger

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Dram knew he was a stranger on Airlandis.

Even though he'd lived on the golden, flying city for over twenty years now, he was still an outsider and why wouldn't he be?

He was the only draman living on the city and a prime target for any attacking dark dramen on both the city and on Old Earth.

They considered him a traitor to dramen-kind despite that they themselves aligned with the tyrant Dread Wing. Even the regular dramen on Old Earth weren't certain how to deal with him or act around him.

Dram had lived on Airlandis with the humans for so long, had absorbed so much of their culture and ideals into himself, that he was 'ruined' for regular dramen society.

Was there anywhere he could truly fit into anymore?

His troubled thoughts were interrupted by a sudden weight jumping onto his back and grabbing him around the shoulders. Thankfully a small breeze had brought his little brother's scent to him, so Peak was only dragged into a headlock instead of being tossed into the opposing wall.

Ignoring the teen's protests, Dram looked up to see his other siblings approaching him and he couldn't help a smile.

Outsider and stranger to both Old Earth and Airlandis he might be, but he had his family at least.


	11. Confusion

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Z'neth swore as he turned Riptor around, sick of this old song and dance routine.

Yet again, Peak had gotten separated from them. This time around, it had likely happened during the confusion caused by an ambush on the Dragon Flyz, led by Fryte and Nocturna. The two mutant lieutenants had been backed by several dozen dark dramen and countless gremwings.

Of course, like usual, no one had noticed until after they'd gotten away from the fight. Since Wing Storm couldn't be found either, then likely he and Peak had been together when they'd gotten separated from the team and hopefully they were still together wherever they currently were.

Growling to himself as he let Riptor fly them to the ambush site, Z'neth entertained the idea of having a kind of leash set up made to tie Wing Storm to one of the other dragons, with a new saddle design that included a belt so as to strap Peak into the saddle.

While he knew neither design would be feasible and both presented numerous problems, it was a great way to distract his stress and anger away from the current situation.


	12. Bitter

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC's are mine.

Note: This takes place in the same AU as Chocolate and is a loose sequel to it.

(-)

Dread Wing entered the little kitchen and blinked as a bag was tossed over his head. Had Peak not yelled out as he'd done so, then the young human would have gotten punched in the chest or worse.

There was a sharp growl of irritation from his human as Dread pulled the bag off his head, wondering what this was about. Peak was visibly upset and was inspecting the rest of the kitchen for...something.

Walking up behind the teenager, Dread placed a hand on one of the blond's shoulders, "What's gotten you so bitter, my little imp?"

Peak looked up at him, annoyance clear on his face, "Some kid keeps stealing from my kitchen!It's getting really annoying and I swear he's toying with me now!"

Dread raised an eyebrow, "Describe him to me."

Peak let out a sharp breath, trying to continue his search despite Dread holding him in place, "I can't really tell the age but he's about Tommy's height, a darker blue than Nocturna, his wings are permanently out and he's got ear fins that look like a bigger version of Nocturna's. His clothes seem typical for a mutant though."

Dread Wing felt his left eye twitch. Oh, _that_ kid. Forcing himself to remain calm, he moved his arms to wrap Peak in a hug from behind, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

The teenager looked up at him again, "Are you sure?"

Dread nodded, "I'm sure."

At the very least, this gave him an edge over another irritation that hopefully would leave his side soon.


	13. Afterlife

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This can be taken as a sequel to Overflow from the third prompt table. Yes, both this fic and that one can be considered AU now.

_'talk'_ = thought

(-)

Summit landed Sky Fury on a small cliff and dismounted from the saddle quietly, pulling a bag down with him.

He approached the cliff edge and opened the bag to check it over one last time. It held a pair of new art books, a couple packs of pencils (colored and plain black), a bag of lemon candy and a few other odds and ends.

Satisfied that everything was in there, Summit dropped the bag over the edge. He watched it fall down into the lava river below, right where a different cliff edge had once been. As he watched it burn, a strange sensation of light emptiness came into his chest and not for the first time that day he felt his eyes prickle.

Snorting to himself, he stepped back from the edge and pulled off his helmet to scrub at his eyes. While he did that, Sky Fury looked over the edge and spat something out from her mouth into the lava river.

Summit had looked in time to see something that was varying shades of brown, long and with a round part at one end fall. He looked at Sky Fury, mouth opening to reprimand her but then he caught the sadness and grief emanating from her and closed his mouth.

No, she wouldn't have spat, not here. She'd offered something as well and he knew why. The fact he hadn't seen it until then meant that she'd been carrying it in her mouth pocket, which must have been extremely uncomfortable.

Putting his helmet back on, Summit got back into the saddle and patted her shoulder.

It was an admittedly strange belief and no one quite knew when it had started but it was sort of...tradition that when a dragonator died on Old Earth, one could burn things to send to them in the afterlife. The closer to the site of their death, the better.

Summit pulled at the saddle bars, letting Fury know it was time to head home. As they flew off, he gave one last look at the lava river, specifically where it had flowed over and now covered a second cliff edge that used to be there.

'_Goodbye, little brother.'_


	14. Daybreak

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Daybreak on Old Earth wasn't very special.

With the thick clouds of the Warp Winds covering the sky, all the rising sun managed to do was just lighten the area it shone on. It was the reverse for sunsets, where the sky would just darken and so would the land below, except for the lava flows and pools and the various purpose fires lit by the denizens of Old Earth.

To truly see and appreciate the beauty of the rise and set of the sun, one needed to be above the clouds. So the inhabitants of Airlandis had another little luxury that those below didn't, another thing for those below to envy of those above.

Another little reason that Dread Wing wanted the flying city, however small a reason it might be.


	15. Audience

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This is set in the same AU as Chocolate and Bitter.

(-)

Peak was curious when Dread Wing asked him to come to the throne room that afternoon.

The teen had heard from Gangryn that Dread was having an audience with some other mutant ruler and typically Peak wasn't invited to those for one reason or another. Could this new ruler want to open trade routes with Airlandis too? It'd help with amber gathering for one and Peak thought that they could fashion a second treaty similar to the one Dread Wing had with the city if that was the case.

What Peak had _definitely_ not been expecting was to see the mutant child that had been plaguing him for the last two weeks. He was standing next to a much larger, darker blue adult mutant that looked a lot like the boy.

The teen narrowed his eyes at the little blue mutant and growled, "You!"

Dread Wing neatly intervened, taking Peak's arm and gesturing specifically with his other hand to make Peak look at the indicated mutant, "Peak, I'd like you to meet Stone Fist, -"

The other adult mutant cut Dread off, proudly boasting, "High Lord of the Northern Mountains! And this here is my boy, but he hasn't earned a name yet. We've been calling him Basalt until he does."

He patted a hand on the mutant child's shoulder to indicate him, to the small boy's clear displeasure. Peak blinked, completely thrown off here, "Uh, hello, nice to -"

Then he got cut off, as Stone Fist laughed and stepped forward to look Peak over, talking at the same time, "So you're the one that's been feeding my boy? Good! Keep it up! The little rascal needs the weight and the chase after it's good training for the mountains."

Saying that, he slapped a hand down on Peak's shoulder and the teen instantly knew why he had the name 'Stone Fist'. It felt like he'd gotten hit with a small boulder and it was all he could do to keep from staggering under the friendly blow.

Now ignoring the human, Stone Fist turned to an irritated Dread Wing, "So, as I was saying, we could open a couple of trade passes in my mountains, but it'd be limited time to travel, what with the snow and all."

Peak took the opportunity to take Stone Fist in, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder as he did so. Like his son, Stone Fist had his wings out and had the similar odd head fin/ear combination. Unlike his son though, Stone Fist was large enough that it was hard to tell what was bulk and what was muscle. Given that he was a little taller than Dread Wing, that was a lot of weight to carry around and Peak wasn't about to risk an unfriendly blow by making a rude comment.

Dread Wing stepped forward and pushed Stone Fist's hand off of Peak's shoulder to replace it with one of his own, "And as I was saying, the dragons could increase that time by flying over the mountains when the passes are closed. My Black Heart has made the trip before and I'm certain the Airlandian dragons could do it, once they know the way."

Now Peak knew why he'd been asked to show up, in addition to finally finding out who that boy was. He kept himself from groaning and dutifully talked about the Airlandian dragons and their flight capabilities when asked.

He hated political work, but if it meant more amber for Airlandis and better trade routes for Dread Wing, he'd put up with it.


	16. Endless Sorrow

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Fryte growled low in his throat as he stalked through the Corridor of Endless Sorrow.

It was named such because this was where the isolation cells were, where only the most despised were kept, often to live out their extremely short lives. Here, Fryte had much power, second only to Lord Dread Wing himself.

Currently only two of the eight cells were occupied. One by a dark draman traitor that had led a rebellion against Lord Dread, the other by a regular draman soothsayer, also on the charges of rebellion. The elderly creature had been a great source of comfort to many of the regular dramen tribes and had even had the audacity to claim that Dread Wing would soon be overthrown.

Fryte took a bit of entertainment in opening the door slots to 'check in' on the captives. The dark draman cursed at him, struggling weakly in his heavy chains as he tried to get to the door, though what he'd do if he achieved that, Fryte didn't know or care.

Doing the same to the soothsayer killed his good mood. The old draman didn't respond to him, instead sitting quietly in his cell, eyes closed in either sleep or meditation.

When he couldn't rouse him, Fryte left the corridor in disgust and anger, making a mental note to have the regular draman's pitiful rations reduced further.

That would show the draman that Fryte was in control here, not the soothsayer.


	17. Fireworks

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

It was the Summer Festival on Airlandis and many were eagerly looking forward to nightfall, when the main event of fireworks would occur.

Apex wandered quietly through the festival, just enjoying the atmosphere for the most part.

It wasn't often that she got time off that coincided with the city's special events so she was going to make the most of it.

Still, she felt upset that she'd almost literally been chased out of the kitchens that were supplying the food for the event. The workers had claimed that they had too much help and since it was her day off, why didn't she just enjoy the fireworks?

Mumbling to herself about ungrateful people, Apex felt her mood instantly lift when she caught sight of Cifex standing nervously to one side of the hall.

She walked over to him and slipped her hand into his, surprising him but the smile he instantly gave her told her she was forgiven for it. With a soft sigh, she rested her head against his shoulder just as the first of the fireworks started.

What a great start to a wonderful night.


	18. Wishing

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Gangryn re-examined his plans and sighed.

This was his fifth attempt at creating his own amber generator and possibly his final one. Lord Dread Wing was unlikely to tolerate any more failures for this.

Shuddering to himself, Gangryn found himself not for the first time wishing that he had one of Airlandis' generator technicians to question or at least a Dragon Fly. Just someone who had an idea of what he was supposed to do to build a properly sized generator.

Frowning, Gangryn shook his head and glanced at the small generator set against one wall of his lab. It was still going strong and he'd made a few others, but they didn't produce the power he needed to properly repair the ship. He consoled himself with the thought that if he could make a small one from memory and guesswork, then a larger one would just be a matter of time and trial and error.

His resolve set, the scientist set aside his clipboard and reached for his tools. It was time for him to get to work!


	19. Happy Birthday to you

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Aaron walked into the Library nervously, though he tried his best not to show it.

The smiling lady at the front desk directed him to the Antiques sections when he asked about Iranda. He should have figured that she'd be there though. Iranda seemed the most comfortable when she working among the ancient books and documents and as such was usually the main person in that section.

Only he couldn't find her in the Antiques section. Aaron sighed and let his shoulder slump forward. Well, this was just perfect. Spying her desk, he made to go over to it only for someone to suddenly ask, "Aaron?"

Turning around, he saw Iranda in the doorway to the separate room, wearing a large apron while carrying an equally large tome in her gloved hands. She must have been documenting or repairing some part of it.

Swallowing a sudden lump in his throat, Aaron smiled at her, "Iranda! I thought I'd missed you."

She sighed and shook her head, "No, I was just getting some work done. Is there anything you need?"

He shook his head as well, "No, not in particular. I...I just wanted to give you something."

Iranda blinked at him, "Oh? What would that be?"

Cursing the fact that he still got tongue-tied around her despite the fact they'd already been dating for a few months now, Aaron offered her a small wrapped box, "Here. Happy birthday to you, Iranda."

A look of surprise came onto her face, along with a blush, "Aaron! Thank you, I, oh! I'm sorry, just a second!"

She vanished back into the separate room, reappearing just a minute later sans tome, gloves and apron. She accepted the box from him and opened it, her slim fingers neatly undoing the ribbon and peeling the wrapping paper back.

Her own blue eyes lit up in surprise at what she saw inside. Staring at him in shock and surprise, she exclaimed, "Aaron, they're beautiful! But..."

He smiled at her, one hand waving away any questions she'd been about to ask, "It's alright Iranda. I'm glad you like them."

With trembling hands, she offered the box back to him with one hand, "I'm sorry, but could you?"

As her other hand was already pulling her hair aside, he understood the insinuated question. Accepting back the box, he reached in and gently pulled out the necklace. The matching earrings still inside the box could wait until later. Carefully undoing the clasp, he put it around Iranda's neck for her, closing the clasp with only a little bit of difficulty, "There, how is it?"

Her hands let go of her hair to delicately touch the diamond drop of the necklace, "Aaron, it's beautiful. Thank you, thank you so much."

She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, which he returned, "I'm happy that you like them Iranda. I found the stone they came from myself."

It was the truth and a funny story that he'd tell her later but for right now, he was basking in the moment.


	20. Tomorrow

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This is an AU regarding possibilities from the episode The Portal.

(-)

Iranda was nervous and understandably so, for tomorrow was the day she was going to go investigate the Pyramid in the Star Ridge.

Oh she knew Aaron didn't want her to go and that the council wouldn't approve of it, but surely it wouldn't hurt to take a look? At the very least the Pyramid held historical value and should be documented in regards to that.

Sitting up in bed, she fiddled with her fingers as she mentally went over everything again.

It'd be safest for her to leave during the day, when no one would question a dragonator leaving Airlandis, especially if he was scheduled for a scouting survey. As for the dragonator in question, she'd talked one of the younger ones into taking her to the Pyramid and Iranda had made sure to make a note that cleared him of all blame. She'd hide it in Aaron's private study, along with the message on the holo-disk.

As for the children, that was easy. Dram was practically Aaron's assistant and would be out with him in the lab or doing rounds in the dragon sanctuary. Z'neth, Summit and Apex all had school, so she didn't need to worry about them except for making sure they got their lunches before they left in the morning. As for Peak, her baby, well, she was taking him to daycare herself in the morning, after everyone else had left.

Iranda had already decided to use an old excuse, that she was going to be doing intensive restoration work on some of the more delicate books and as such, couldn't spare the time needed to take care of a baby. The work, while not labor intensive, demanded a lot of time, a delicate touch and an extreme attention to detail, so she'd have no chance to take care of her infant son if he began to cry. She'd used the same excuse before, though legitimately those times, with her other children so it wouldn't raise suspicion if she used it now.

Speaking of her baby, Peak snuffled in his crib and began to cry, getting Iranda's attention. Getting out of bed, she gently touched Aaron's shoulder as he rolled over, letting him know that she was taking care of it. He mumbled something and moved back to his original spot, easily dropping back into sleep from previous practice.

Moving to the crib, Iranda picked the baby up and held him close, humming in her chest to comfort him. But it didn't work and Peak continued to cry, which was unusual for him. Checking to make sure he didn't need a fresh diaper, Iranda began to pace the room while still humming. That finally did the trick, sending her youngest child back to sleep.

But when she tried to put him down in the crib, he started crying again. Iranda bit her lip as she picked him back up, internally groaning. One of those nights, great. Peak had an odd habit of randomly wanting to be held for hours on end, often during the night and he'd kick up a major fuss if she or Aaron didn't indulge him in it.

Moving to the corner of the room, Iranda sat down in the replica rocking chair and rocked while still humming, taking a break now and then to instead rub her son's back, trying to coax him into a deeper sleep. She intermixed that with walking the room, taking great care not to wake Aaron up. The last thing she needed now was to give him a reason to decide to stay home.

He had some vacation time saved up and he'd been hinting that he'd like to use it for some family time soon, though they hadn't actually discussed the all important 'when'. It would be just like him to wake up now and decide to put in for that vacation time first thing in the morning, just to give her a break from the baby if nothing else.

A little fearful, she glanced at her husband. Thankfully, Aaron was still asleep. Letting out a sigh, Iranda sat back down in the rocking chair, humming again to Peak. Hopefully he'd actually go to sleep soon and let her get some rest so she could carry out her plans for tomorrow and then...and then...

The smell of coffee woke her up, causing Iranda to sit up in the bed and promptly have a mental freak out. She must have fallen asleep in the rocking chair and _where was the baby?!_

Jumping out of bed, she tore around the room before rushing out with a cry after she couldn't find her youngest. Aaron called out to her, "Iranda? We're in the kitchen."

Still scared, she ran to the mentioned room, ready to tear into Aaron about their missing child, only to see Peak snuggled in Dram's arms, contentedly sleeping. The young draman was in the act of handing an empty bottle to Z'neth, who himself was putting some dishes into the kitchen's small sink. Summit was mechanically eating cereal at the kitchen table, still not fully awake at the moment and Apex was making a bowl of cereal for herself.

As for Aaron, he was standing at their little coffee maker, one cup already made and pouring coffee into a second cup. He gave her a concerned look, "Iranda, I think you should take today off. We've both been under stress lately and it'd do you good to rest. I've already put in to be put on vacation, so I can take care of Peak today if you want."

Mentally cursing, Iranda gave in, "No, I'll be fine. Just let me send word to the office first and I'll see how it goes."

Aaron must have found her in the rocking chair, it was the only explanation. He must have first taken the baby to either put in the crib or give to Dram, then gone back to put her in bed. Now he was concerned for her and for the next few days, Aaron would be trying to help shoulder even more of the parenting workload to take some stress off of her. Normally she'd be happy and touched at his consideration, but today it threw off all her plans.

Mentally sighing now, she accepted the cup of coffee he gave her and sat at the table. She'd have to contact not only the Library's main office but also that dragonator to let him know the plans were canceled for today. She'd have to wait until at least next week to try again.

Only 'next week' kept happening, due to seemingly random things that kept demanding her attention and time. Dram's first dragon ride for one. Z'neth's early acceptance letter into the dragonator prep courses, which they celebrated by eating out the night he'd gotten it. Summit shyly asking her to help him pick out a gift for a girl and even Apex begging her for ear piercings as a birthday gift.

As every day came, either she found more reasons to stay on Airlandis for a little longer or something happened to bump her plans back further. Until finally she just gave up on them altogether, at least, she gave up on the part about going alone.

Iranda instead decided to lobby to the Council about sending an expedition team to the Pyramid, citing her reasons of its historical value as why. It was a horrifically slow process, but she was steadily gaining ground against them.

Until she got the go-ahead though, or at least a confirmation that a team would indeed be sent to the Star Ridge, Iranda decided that she was going to continue her work in the Library and spend time with her family.

Especially her baby, who was now big enough to walk and would chase her around, even at her job when she brought him along with. Iranda wouldn't lie about the dim light of hope that lit in her heart when she saw Peak's fascinated stares at the ancient books and seeing how carefully he would watch her while she worked.

It'd be nice to have one of the children follow in her footsteps, especially since the older ones were clearly showing interests in the dragons and the path of being dragonators.


	21. Oppression

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

The humans thought they knew oppression, but they didn't. Not when they were safe on their flying city, with the dragonators and the Dragon Flyz willing to defend them.

If anyone was truly oppressed, then it was the regular dramen.

They were routinely preyed upon by the dark dramen and the mutants, hunted down for slaves and for sport.

This had been going on for so long that there were entire tribes that no longer fought back, simply accepting their horrible fate after generations of being beaten down.

That was also what Dram was determined to change. Having had one success already, he made a point of returning to that village and teaching whoever wanted to learn how to fight back.

He taught them grappling, hand to hand, any kind of fighting move that would give them an edge against the next attack by either dark dramen, mutants or both.

He wouldn't let other villages suffer the same fate his own had, so long ago.


	22. Agony

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and the OC's are mine.

Note: This can be taken as a distant sequel to Tomorrow.

(-)

Junior dragonators Clay and Tal were both horrendously bored.

After they'd completed their training for the day, they'd been assigned to one of the lesser used entrances to the dragon sanctuary as guards for the remainder of their shift. Of course, as it was one of the least used of the lesser used entrances, no one had approached them in the last few hours and neither of them had so much as a pack of cards on them to help alleviate the boredom.

Distracted by his own thoughts of what to do after he got off shift, Tal missed the approaching newcomer until Clay sharply elbowed him to bring his fellow dragonator back to reality. First giving his companion a glare, Tal turned his attention to the person now standing before them.

The guy looked strangely familiar, though where he'd know this kid from, he had no idea. Dressed like a civilian, the unknown teenager had long blond hair and surprisingly pale blue eyes, which were currently giving both junior dragonators a half-interested, half-sleepy look.

The teen spoke first, asking, "Is Summit still in? I need to talk with him."

Both of them were instantly suspicious, with Clay throwing out their usual non-answer regarding the Dragon Flyz, "He's on a flight right now."

The blond blinked, "Oh really? I could have sworn Sky Fury was grounded right now. Is he on a spare dragon then?"

Clay and Tal exchanged a look, both now on their guard against this kid. Only other dragonators should have known that Sky Fury was grounded (nothing serious, just standard maternity time to let her bond with her new cub) and clearly Clay didn't know this kid either. Tal gave the boy another once over, not liking what he saw.

Bags under the eyes, pale skin and though he was trying to come off nonchalant, there was a clear sense of nervousness in the kid. Tal frowned, convinced now that they were dealing with a stalker, "Look kid, Summit is really busy right now and can't be bothered. So go home, okay?"

The teen shook his head, "No, I need to speak with Summit. Now, is he in or no?"

Clay, who'd always had the shorter temper, snapped, "Listen kid, you're not going to speak with him, so leave already!"

The blond gave an aggravated sigh, irritation and annoyance coming into his gaze, "Fine, I'll just go in then."

Clay moved forward to stop him, growling as he reached for the teen's shoulder, "No you're no-"

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off with a loud shriek of agony as the teen caught Clay's arm and twisted it, moving his hand so as to dig his fingers into the tender spots of the dragonator's wrist. Tal swore and moved to help his comrade, only for a loud shout to stop him, "Peak! Let go of him right now!"

To his surprise, the kid obeyed quickly, letting go of Clay and stepping back, away from the dragonators. Turning to see who had shouted, Tal's surprise increased at seeing Summit coming at their little group, visibly irritated.

Once he was close enough, Summit looked at Clay, "Are you alright?"

The younger dragonator nodded, rubbing his wrist to ease the lingering pain, "Mostly my pride sir."

Summit nodded back then turned to the teenager, "Peak, we've told you more than once to not get into confrontations!"

Peak shrugged his shoulders, but seemed to wilt a little, "He came at me..."

"Then you should have just dodged him. I know you can and so do you. Remember what Z'neth's been telling you, if you break any of our dragonators, then you replace them, understood?"

Tal hesitantly cut in, "Uh, sir? What's going on here?"

Summit looked at him and blinked, as if finally realizing they had an audience, "Oh...sorry. Neither of you have met Peak before right? He's my younger brother."

The younger blond waved at the pair, "Hi, sorry about that. Are you really okay, uh..."

Clay introduced himself, seeming as lost as Tal was, "I'm Clay and this here is Tal. Yeah, I'm alright but thanks for asking."

It all clicked now, why that kid looked familiar. With a helmet-less Summit standing right next to him, it was clear Peak looked like a younger version of his older brother. As for the brothers, Summit looked back at Peak, "Why are you here anyway? I thought you and Mother were pulling doubles today."

The teen smiled, some of his nervousness going away, "The Council actually gave us help! We got a pair of new interns today for the Library, with one specifically for the Archives so Mother and I were able to split our work with her. As for why I'm here, Mother wanted to know if you were coming to dinner tonight."

Summit winced, "I'm not sure on that lil bro. My schedule's pretty jam-packed today. Were you also coming by to see Storm?"

Peak nodded and immediately wilted at Summit's next question, "By the way, why didn't you just call me up on the vox box to let me know you were heading over here?"

The teen didn't answer, suddenly seeming to find his hands a great source of interest. After a minute, Summit sighed and raised a hand to rub at his forehead, "You broke your communicator again, didn't you?"

There was a mumbled, "I didn't break it...exactly..."

Summit shook his head and turned back to the now thoroughly confused pair of junior dragonators, "I'll take care of this from here. Good work you two, but you'll want to work on that temper Clay. The next pair of guards should be here in a few minutes."

Clay and Tal both just nodded, staring after the pair of brothers as Summit escorted Peak into the dragon sanctuary. After that, they looked at each other and shrugged at the same time. That family was weird, through and through.


	23. Return

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This takes place in the same AU as Chocolate, Bitter and Audience.

(-)

Despite being well versed in political matters, Dread Wing still found himself extremely nervous as he got ready to broach what was likely one of the most important conversations of his life.

Approaching his target carefully, the mutant King tried to think of what to say to start the conversation. However, the other opened it instead, looking up and asking, "Was there something you needed, Dread?"

The mutant almost shook his head but stopped himself and finally said the words he needed to, "Peak, I believe we need to talk."

The teen lowered the book he'd been reading, curiosity on his face, "Talk about what?"

Dread sat down next to the human, keeping his gaze on Peak's face, "Make no mistake about this, I love that we've had so much time together lately, but why won't you return home? Have you even called your family the whole time you've been here in Warnado?"

Peak had in fact been living with Dread in Warnado for a week straight now, which as he'd said, Dread had loved but something about the situation didn't feel right. The fact that Peak looked away told him that he'd been right to be suspicious.

The blond mumbled, "Is it a problem, me being here?"

Dread reassured him, "No, it's not. But I am worried about you. Please, if there's something wrong, I can try to help."

Peak shifted uncomfortably on the couch, "It's...it's not my family, if that's what you were worried about."

He fell quiet again, making Dread have to prompt him, "Then what is it?"

Peak sighed and looked up at him, putting the book away to reach for Dread's hands, "Promise me you won't be mad?"

Confused, Dread Wing cautiously nodded, "I promise."

His human looked nervous but finally told him, "It's, um, there's still some anti-mutant sentiment on Airlandis and...well, I kinda got fed up with it all. Father and my siblings don't seem to do much about it outside of Council meetings and I got tired of being told to ignore it all the time."

Peak fell silent again and Dread just knew instinctively that there was more. But before he could say anything to get Peak to continue on, the human did something surprising. The teenager moved quickly to sit himself on Dread's legs, still holding onto the mutant's hands as he did so.

He'd essentially pinned the mutant in, for Dread wouldn't be able to get up now without moving Peak first. Once he was sure of his position, Peak leaned in and whispered the rest into Dread's ear, wincing as the mutant's grip suddenly tightened on his hands.

Leaning back, he gave his boyfriend a weak smile, "Besides, I am keeping in contact with my family...sort of. I send Summit text messages everyday and I called Dram yesterday."

Dread mentally grabbed his anger by the throat and flung it down, pinning it under a restraint he'd spent years strengthening. Returning Peak's smile, he made himself calmly say, "Ah, that is good. Now how about we go to Ai-"

Peak cut him off with a kiss, leaning in to keep his body close to Dread's, another method to make sure the mutant couldn't move easily. Dread Wing gave in, returning the kiss softly even as he plotted revenge for a later date.


	24. Protection

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Though actual storms on Airlandis were rare, they did happen occasionally.

So while Sky Fury herself was able to sleep through the one that came up on the floating city during the night, her cub was another story.

At the first crash of lightning, Zap was startled awake with a squawk. He stared up at the ceiling of the dragon sanctuary, wondering what that had been.

The roll of thunder spooked him, causing the still small cub to press back against his mother. The following crash of lightning scared him into diving under her wing for protection, which finally woke the large green.

She sleepily looked at him, wondering what this was about. The sounds of the storm outside told her, well, that and her cub's startled squeak at the next flash of lightning.

Settling back down in the nest, she sent her baby soothing sensations alongside a pretty tune she remembered from Summit's mind. It took a few minutes, but she finally had him relaxed enough to go back to sleep, despite the storm.

Laying back down herself, she yawned and quickly fell back asleep, ignoring the raging sounds from outside. She'd flown in worse after all, so why should this little annoyance disrupt her slumber?


	25. Boxes

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC's are mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This is set in the same AU as the second table prompts Hush, Engage and Believe, as well as the third table prompts Life, Hands and Parade.

(-)

Horus gave his wife an amused look, "You know, you just put that pile up a minute ago. I doubt they've shifted since then."

Peak looked up from the small stack of brightly colored boxes and bags that she'd been trying to straighten, a slight blush on her face, "What? I can't help being nervous on Merlin's big day."

Looking up at the mention of his name, little Merlin stared at his mother from his playpen, blinking owlishly at her. When she didn't interact with him besides a smile, he returned his attention to his building blocks, trying to stack them up in a tower. His favorite stuffed dragon was next to him, positioned so its plastic bead eyes were watching the forming tower.

Peak sighed and moved to lean against her husband, "I just can't believe he's already a year old. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital."

Horus wrapped an arm around her, "I know darlin. It's hard for me to believe it too. I wonder why he's not talking yet though..."

Peak frowned, "I asked his doctor about it and she said it's normal and that he should start talking in the next few months anyway. Besides, all we could do for it is just to talk to him, you know, to get him used to it."

Blocks now fully stacked, Merlin considered the tower for a minute before knocking it over and starting the tower again, though this time he used a different order of blocks. Watching their son, Horus asked Peak, "So, when's everyone showing up again?"

She answered, "Around six tonight. Zarkan and Amod send their apologies by the way, since they have to stay late tonight. It's why they brought their gifts by earlier today."

She indicated the large green box and the green bag next to it. Looking up at the mention of the men, Merlin followed his mother's pointing and abandoned his blocks to stretch his arms out at the gifts. He opened and closed his hands in rapid succession and made an irritated sound as he did so.

Horus laughed, "Well, it looks like we won't have to teach him what presents are."

Peak shook her head, moving away from her husband to go pick up her son. Merlin grabbed her shoulder with one hand and kept the other one stretched out to the gifts, making another irritated sound. Shaking her head again, Peak told him, "Not yet Merlin. You have to wait until later."

Horus shrugged from where he stood, "What's the harm in letting him have one early?"

Peak gave him a look, "Because he might latch onto that gift and completely ignore the rest? Besides, he needs to learn patience anyway."

Horus shrugged again, "So? He's gonna focus on one anyway once we let him have the presents. Why not let him have one now? By the time we let him have the rest, he'll probably lose interest in that first one."

Peak sighed, walking out of the living room to the hallway, "Because I want him to open them all at the party. It's only an hour and a half away, he'll manage until then with the toys he already has."

Horus shrugged a third time but dropped the subject, watching as his wife disappeared into Merlin's room, likely to distract their small son with something from his toy chest until the time of the party.

With yet another shrug, he went to join them, figuring correctly that Peak would need help keeping Merlin distracted. Besides, those toy trains were more fun to play with than he'd thought they'd be.


	26. Hope

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Iranda winced as she sat in the cushioned chair before letting out a sigh as the pain in her ankles finally lightened. She let out another one as she rubbed her hands over her heavily swollen stomach.

Her third pregnancy and again they'd chosen to be surprised for the gender of their child. As it was, Iranda had high hopes for a daughter, though she knew Aaron wouldn't mind another boy, whatever he said otherwise.

Thinking on their current two sons seemed to summon them, as they both ran into the nursery room, squabbling at each other the whole time. Iranda groaned and closed her eyes, wondering if this was something she could ignore.

From what she could see, Z'neth was trying to keep one of his favorite toys from Summit, who apparently wanted that exact toy to play with. When their fighting didn't lighten up, Iranda groaned and got out of the chair to stop the fight before one of them got hurt by accident.

She couldn't wait until they were older and hopefully calmer.


	27. Preparation

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This takes place in the same AU as the Contempt, Wrong, and Sweeten prompts from the third prompt table.

(-)

Darius dropped his bulk onto their worn couch and reached forward to grab his boyfriend by the back of Patrick's purple shirt, "Come here, break time."

He pulled the resisting teenager down to sit next to him, wrapping an arm around the blond to keep him sitting down. Pat whined, "Come on, Dare! There's still a lot we need to get done for the move and Franky and the others-"

The older man cut him off, "Won't be here until at least eight tonight, if I know them. If I'd promised them some of your cooking, then they'd have been here at daybreak to help out. But for take-out pizza and burgers? Eight o'clock would be early for them. Pat, we've been up since this morning packing and it's practically lunch now. We can take a thirty minute break to eat and relax."

His boyfriend pouted, but relented, "Fine, but we're eating out of the fridge. We need to clear it out anyway."

Darius grumbled but gave in, deciding to just be happy that he'd gotten Patrick to stop for a little while. He let his dark eyes roam over the piles of packed and labeled boxes as well as the still empty ones, amazed at the mess that they'd managed to make in their preparation to move yet again.

At least this time it was for a good reason. Franky had told Darius about some apartments that had opened up in the building he lived in, prompting Darius to bring up the topic to Pat which had quickly led to them putting in an offer for one of the apartments.

They'd gotten it, to their joy. The new apartment was cheaper than the one they currently had, was closer to Darius' work and also near a better bus terminal for Pat to take to school and work as well. It also helped that not only Franky lived there, but so did Nella, another coworker of Darius' but with the exception that she was actually friends with Patrick too.

In short, this move would be good for them, especially since they were finally getting a bit more financially stable now. Darius had recently gotten a small raise at work and Patrick was getting commissions on a more regular basis now, not enough to quit his part-time job over but enough that they could breath a little easier between bill payments.

Darius even dared to let himself dream that they might have enough extra after the move to actually buy some new furniture. Not a complete new set though, but at least a new couch and some replacement dining chairs. The mix-matched set they had now still secretly grated on his nerves, especially since one had wobbly legs that resisted every attempt made to stabilize them.

Patrick sighed and moved to snuggle against him, breaking Darius out of his vengeful thoughts on stubborn furniture. The teen shifted to look up at him, giving the older man a smile. He returned it, leaning down to give his boyfriend a quick kiss. When they broke apart, Patrick sighed again and shoved off the couch to stand up, "So, what do you want for lunch? I know we still have some leftover Chinese and I think there's still some lasagna left from yesterday."

Darius grimaced as he got up as well to follow him into the kitchen, "Not sure. Let's just double check the fridge and I'll decide from there."

To be honest, he'd have rather eat something Patrick had made but the teen was right about them needing to clean out the fridge before they moved. At least they could eat something homemade tomorrow, which he was looking forward to.


	28. Beautiful

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Cifex had woken up early, like usual, and quietly watched Apex as she still slept, admiring how beautiful she looked in the morning light. He moved carefully in the bed they shared, reaching over to brush some of the hair out of her face.

She shifted in her sleep, leaning in to his touch with a soft sigh. Whatever he'd done to win her love, Cifex still wasn't sure but was grateful for it all the same.

Distantly, he could hear the beep of her small coffee maker turning on to begin brewing. That meant there was only about another five minutes before her alarm went off to wake her up so she could get ready for the day.

He decided to let her have those few extra minutes to sleep instead of gently waking her like usual. Apex could use the extra sleep and honestly, he kind of enjoyed this relaxed state they were in. He moved again, gently pulling his body close to hers while laying his arm over her waist.

Apex mumbled something and moved to press against him, letting out a sigh as she made herself comfortable. Cifex let out a sigh of his own and closed his eyes to just soak in this moment.

It was little moments like these that he appreciated the most.


	29. Lies

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This takes place in the same AU as the Awkward, Lower, Plead and Caring prompts of the second prompt table.

(-)

Snare wandered the halls of Warnado, curious as to where his little brother had gone now.

Petrify had had another argument with Father that morning, claiming that Father was telling them lies, that the four siblings were really humans not mutants and all his other usual spiels. It unfortunately wasn't an uncommon argument for the boy to make, but for some reason Father had had a shorter temper today than normal.

Instead of ordering Petrify to hold his tongue before explaining how this only proved that the boy was still under the humans' control, Father had actually struck Petrify. He'd hit the youngest right in the face with the back of his fist, knocking Petrify to the ground and drawing blood as well.

It was only thanks to his strict training that Snare hadn't drawn his weapon and challenged their Father for doing that. He'd also seen how his other two siblings had shown signs of restraint at the attack, though Dark Wing had pulled back his lips in a silent snarl of disapproval.

Father had then ordered Petrify to the boy's quarters, telling him that he was to stay there until further notice. Seemingly, Petrify had obeyed, but as Snare had expected when he went to look for him later, the boy hadn't been in his rooms at all.

Which led to where he was now, searching Warnado for his little brother, though at an admittedly lazy pace. He knew that Petrify had to be on the ship somewhere, for the dark dramen would have been ordered to not let Petrify leave Warnado, not until Dread gave the order to let him out.

Besides, Snare figured that this would be like the other times when Petrify and Father had clashed, that Petrify would likely be sulking somewhere if he wasn't taking his anger out on something. After several minutes of not finding the boy anywhere within the crashed ship, Snare finally got a good idea of where to look.

Heading towards his own room, Snare activated the sliding door and stepped inside. Sure enough, there was his little brother, laying on the bed and sleeping soundly. Petrify must have fallen asleep waiting for him, either that or he'd snuck in here to nap while avoiding Father.

Whatever the reason, Snare didn't wake him. Instead, he pulled out a spare blanket and settled over his little brother to help the boy sleep. Though Father had warned them about spoiling Petrify, Snare felt his little brother needed some comforting then. Besides, a nap never hurt anyone and it would help the boy heal from the blow he'd taken.

That settled, Snare crossed his room to his weapons rack and pulled one of the blades free after digging out his polishing kit. Sitting down, he got to work on ensuring the blade had a good edge and was clean of rust. Mostly it was busy work until Petrify woke up, but Snare didn't mind waiting.

It let him organize his thoughts for revenge on Father anyway.


	30. Underneath

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

When one sat and thought about it, there was a startling contrast between Warnado and Airlandis.

To start with, Airlandis was literally the 'Golden City', flying high above the clouds and well guarded by dragons and their riders. The citizens had nearly no wants and everyone would be hard-pressed to name a more perfect home, besides that of the Promised Land.

Yet below on Old Earth, underneath the Warp Winds, it was a wasteland. Reliable sources of food and clean water were hard to come by, forcing many into a nomadic and often violent lifestyle. It was no different in Warnado, the crashed ship from which Dread Wing ruled.

The denizens of Old Earth had to work hard for the very things that those of Airlandis took for granted. In fact, it was at such a point that Dread used it to win allies to his cause of conquering the flying city, promising those that helped him a share in the city's many luxuries and riches.

Yet this was how the world was, both sides fighting against each other instead of working together to ensure their continued survival. Perhaps one day they could settled their differences and work for that common goal but that time has yet to come.


	31. Hide

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Ulrich looked up as something big hit his office door.

Frowning to himself, he got up slowly, reaching for the wind jammer he'd taken to keeping in his office. Easing slowly out of his chair, he slipped over to the wall of his office and began to edge his way to the door as another loud 'thump' came from it.

Worryingly, there was also the sound of something scratching at the door as well. What the heck could it be?

Reaching the activation pad, Ulrich took a breath to steady himself and clear his mind. There had been no alarm to alert everyone to a mutant/dark dramen attack but with Dread's various schemes, he didn't doubt something like the crystal fire fiasco happening again.

Feeling as ready as he'd ever be, Ulrich hit the pad to open the door and raised the wind jammer, ready to shoot it. He nearly got run over by a clearly irritated large young green dragon. Swearing, Ulrich dodged to the side just in time to avoid getting hurt as the young dragon barreled straight to his desk and tried to get into the leg space under it.

Swearing again, Ulrich ran over to try and drag Zap away from his desk, "You know dang well you're too big to hide under there anymore! Get out of there and get back to the sanctuary already!"

The dragon ignored him and continued trying to shove his bulk under the desk, which was already giving warning groans at the unaccustomed stress it was receiving. Ulrich swore yet again and mentally cursed Gangryn for the fifth time that day.

Zap's growth had been oddly delayed for months, which they'd all blamed the mutein for, when he suddenly shot up in size and weight, easily outgrowing all the others in his age group and some of those before him. But because he'd grown up physically didn't mean he'd grown up mentally, as was now evident with him trying to get under Ulrich's desk despite being way too big now.

With a loud 'crack!', the securing screws on his desk gave up and broke, allowing Zap to essentially put the desk on his back almost like a hermit crab. It would have been a funny image had it not meant Ulrich now had to find a new place to do his paperwork until the desk was fixed.

Groaning, he put his head in his hands and tried to count backwards from ten to calm himself. Zap, meanwhile, let out a confused noise as he tried to figure out how to get all of his new frame under the desk with no luck.

Giving up, Ulrich left his office to find either Riptor or Sky Fury. Zap was **their** cub, so they could deal with this headache. Maybe he could even guilt Summit into letting Ulrich borrow his office until the desk was fixed...


	32. Diary

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Apex sneezed as she moved some boxes, wondering how she'd managed to put away so much junk in her old room despite no longer living with Father. So far, her search for that picture of her and Mother was failing.

Sniffling, she checked the top of the box and frowned at the words 'Private Property, Hands Off!'. What had she put in there again?

Moving away from her over stuffed closet to sit on a clear spot on the floor, Apex put the box before her and opened the top. Right off, there were some handwritten letters, which confused her until she opened them and laughed. That's right, these were from her middle school boyfriend, who'd always thought of himself as a romantic. Unfortunately, he'd been more of a whiner so she hadn't exactly felt bad when their relationship ended, though to his credit he had tried to woo her honestly and with effort.

Moving the letters aside, she searched further in the box to see what else it held. There were a couple of gifts from some other ex-boyfriends, which also got moved aside. A book fell over as she did so, surprising her.

Picking it up, Apex could help laughing as she recognized her own handwriting on the cover, which proudly declared the book as her 'secret diary' and threatened pain to any who opened it without her permission. Opening the book, she was surprised at the real pages inside, instead of a datapad, but quickly remembered that that was one of the ways she'd tried to rebel in her younger years.

Back then, she'd tried to forgo technology as much as she could, trying to do as much as possible the old-fashioned way until it literally became impossible to do. Sitting back, Apex flipped through the book to refresh her memory of those years.

She had to smile at how childish she'd been, writing complaints in her diary about being 'forced' to babysit a bratty baby brother and how it was unfair that she was being singled out as the girl in the family. She'd also written about her headaches and how frequently they'd been coming to her, how often she'd gotten distracted because of them and about teachers that didn't believe her when she complained about the headaches.

Apex winced at that memory. What she hadn't known then was that those headaches had been the early signs of her power, the pain brought about by her abilities trying to manifest but unfortunately she wasn't around dragons then so her power had no where to go but her own head.

Shaking her head, she flipped through a few more pages before making herself put the old book down. There was always time to look at it later in more depth. Reaching back into the box, she pulled out a few more items before her hands landed on another book.

Pulling it out, she opened it to reveal it was a photo album. Mostly it was pictures of herself and her friends from back then, but there were several of her brothers and parents too. Leaving the album and her diary out, Apex packed everything else back into the box and returned it to her closet.

The diary was hidden under her pillow for later retrieval. Taking the photo album in hand, Apex left her old room to find the rest of her family, wherever they were in the house.

Surely they'd like to go through the pictures with her.


	33. Unforeseen

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Iranda stood inside the teleporter room, a contemplative look on her features.

She turned to the console, running her gloved fingers over the various buttons as she thought to herself.

All those years ago, when she'd first stepped through the portal in the pyramid, Iranda hadn't thought too far ahead about what would happen after that. As a result, she'd run straight into the unforeseen fact that she could not return to Old Earth, as the portal was one way only, at least on the _Explorer_'s end.

But if someone could have activated the machines back in the pyramid, she could have gone home. Only she hadn't left much information besides her message to Aaron and after all these years, it was clear he either hadn't figured out about the portal or simply couldn't bring her back.

Yet that other dragonator, the one that had claimed to be her youngest son, he'd clearly been pulled back. Had Aaron finally figured out the machines? Had they found the portal? If so, why hadn't she been pulled back? Why had no one else gone through?

Likely something had happened on Old Earth, either the machines in the pyramid breaking or...or...something.

But that didn't matter now.

Iranda felt, for what seemed like the first time in years, a real smile come to her face. Once she'd informed the technicians and several others about the arrival and subsequent recall of that dragonator, the teleporter room had been swarmed and thoroughly examined.

From the data they'd been able to collect, Iranda had been told that there was a possibility that the teleporter room could be re-wired and reconstructed so as to allow teleportation going both ways. That meant she could finally return to Old Earth, to Airlandis and most importantly, to her family.

It would take months though, as they went through the various procedures and countless testing to ensure it was safe and actually worked, but Iranda was willing to wait.

She'd waited nearly eighteen years after all, so what was another year to that?


	34. Conditional

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This takes place in the same AU as Chocolate, Bitter, Audience and Return.

(-)

Nocturna frowned as she offered Peak a hand up, "Alright, what's wrong? You should have been able to get out of that hold easily."

The human grimaced and accepted the help, apologizing as he stood up, "Sorry, my mind's been elsewhere lately."

She snorted, "Clearly. Now, what is it? We're not going to continue until you tell me and I can be certain you're focused on the training. I'm not about to risk breaking your arm just because you're distracted."

Peak winced and sighed, "I know it's stupid to say this, but promise not to get too mad?"

Nocturna smiled at him as they left the training mats so a pair of waiting dark dramen could use the area, "When aren't I mad Peak?"

He laughed at little at the in-joke but sighed again right after, "The council's being stupid again and I mean _really_ stupid."

She quirked an eyebrow, "Oh? How have they managed to top themselves this time?"

Peak snorted as he leaned against the wall of the training room, "Basically they're starting to ignore the fact that the only reason Dread sends the amber is because of the treaty and that the continued shipment of said amber is conditional on Airlandis holding up their side of the treaty."

The female mutant had a bad feeling, "Don't tell me they're trying to backpedal on that?"

He nodded, "They basically are. What really gets me mad though is that several members of the council have either heavily hinted or basically outright said that since Dread and I are together, they don't see why they should have to keep sending technology or other forms of assistance to Warnado. Not completely cut it all off, mind you, but they do want to slash the amount being sent almost in half."

Nocturna hissed, "They are idiots then! Don't they realize that if they do put that into play, Dread will only retaliate in kind? I might clash heads with him, but even I know that Dread is professional enough to leave personal matters out of business, which clearly the council doesn't."

The teen nodded, "I know and it's really bugging me lately. I mean, I do love Dread Wing and I don't want to break up with him but at the rate this is going, I'm either going to have to do that just to keep the peace or move down here entirely and cut all ties with the city."

She smirked, "If you need an opinion, I vote you move down here."

Peak weakly returned the smirk, "You just want Z'neth to have another excuse to visit more."

Nocturna shrugged innocently, "You said it, not me. But it is a nice perk to think about."

Peak shook his head but he was smiling again and that's what mattered. He waved a hand at her, "I'll think about it some more, but moving to Warnado is the more appealing option, I'll admit."

The blue mutant leaned against the wall herself, "Moving on, let's take a break for now. In five minutes, I'm going to show you how to do that throw again and you'd better pay attention this time."

"I will, I promise!" Peak kept up his smile as they settled in to replace for their small break. After just a minute, she heard him say, "Thanks for listening Nocturna."

She smiled and replied, "You're welcome Peak."

But that issue with the council would be problematic if it went unchecked. It seemed it was time for Dread Wing to form a counter plan of his own and she had some good ideas as to how to do that.


	35. Gone

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC's are mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Dram had taken to visiting other regular dramen villages, to see if any more were interested in learning to fight back against the dark dramen and mutants.

He was on one such visit, accompanied by Zarkan, when he got the surprise of his life.

They had just finished talking with the village chief and were getting ready to head back to the flying city when a hesitant voice called out to the pair, "Dram? Dram is that you?!"

It went high at the end, making the draman turn around to see a female draman approaching him quickly. When she saw his face, she cried out and broke into a run, "It's you! It's really you!"

She was nearly on him when it finally clicked why she seemed familiar and Dram welcomed her sudden, crushing hug with one of his own. His throat suddenly felt tight but he managed to say, "Eta! I can't believe it's you!"

She squeaked something into his shoulder but neither of them let go just yet. Zarkan blinked at the pair and interrupted their moment, "I hate to break this reunion, but who are you?"

He moved his hand away from his wind jammer once he realized that the female draman wasn't a threat but he was still lost. Dram broke the hug to turn to his partner, motioning between her and Zarkan, "Zarkan, this is my younger cousin Eta. She, she.."

He trailed off, not certain how to actually phrase everything but Eta did that for him. She gave Zarkan a very cautious smile, explaining, "My mother married outside of our old village after my father died. As is custom, she and I moved to her new husband's village, which is why..."

She trailed off and turned to Dram, tears in her eyes, "Oh Dram, I'm so sorry! We didn't hear about the attack until nearly a week had passed! The village sent some people to do what they could but the news they brought back wasn't good. We heard rumors that you survived but until now I never knew if they were true or not."

He shook his head, trying to give her a smile of some sort but there was a burning question he had to know the answer to, "Eta, were there any others? From the village?"

His cousin shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry Dram. Aside from you, Mother and myself, everyone from the old village is gone. Kreigo was horribly thorough in his attack."

She pasted a smile on her face, though sadness was still clearly present in her eyes, "Dram, you must come see my children! I'd love for them to finally meet you after all this time and ..."

Eta hesitated, looking uncertainly at Zarkan. The dragonator waved the pair off, "It's alright. I'll let the watch tower now he'll be back later. They might call him on his communicator to verify everything but that should be it."

This was only possible because they weren't on an official mission, just a survey of the area and a contact with the local dramen village. Dram gave Zarkan a nod of thanks as Eta smiled and began to drag Dram off, chattering about her two children and their latest escapades.

It was wonderful to find that at least some of his family was still alive.


	36. Clear Skies

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Riptor yawned, wincing a little at the pop in his jaw before he settled back down in his personal nest.

He was off duty today, as part of his scheduled rest and Z'neth's as well.

Riptor stretched his back, wincing again at the various pops and the pang of a sore muscle about where the saddle usually sat. Well, that was the main reason behind this rest period, to help dragons heal from the constant wearing of the saddle.

Shaking his head, Riptor thought about what to do today. Resting, obviously, but maybe he could go and oversee some of the young ones just starting in their training, with a short flight after that.

With the clear skies the city had today, it would be criminal to _not_ take advantage of them.

The sound of a dragon flying close to his nest got his attention, bringing his attention to Sky Fury as she landed right next to him, tucking her wings in close to her body as she gave him a loving croon.

His day just got infinitely better.


	37. Heartache

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC's are mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This takes place in my Half is still Whole AU.

(-)

When Aaron entered the University building, he did not expect to encounter her again.

But there she was, only a few feet before the front desk, talking with a coworker. Going from the way they were apparently comparing files, their conversation had to be about work again.

Grimacing a little, Aaron decided to just walk past them to the front desk to see if his files were ready yet.

But of course, the coworker had to notice him and called out a greeting, which Aaron had to return, not wanting to be rude. This of course got her attention as well.

Dark brown eyes met his blue ones as she turned to look at him. She gave him the barest of look-overs and said, "Aaron, you seem to be doing well."

He gave her a slight nod in return, "As do you, Madeline."

It was true. His ex-wife still had her beauty, though it was a little more refined now and still cold, completely unlike the warmth Iranda projected. Madeline's dark brown curls were pulled back into a bun at the back of her head, with plain hair pins holding her bangs out of her make-up free face.

Her figure was still good as well, hidden as it was under her half-buttoned lab coat. The only hint at all of her real age were a few gray hairs at the edge of her temples, nearly hidden among the other dark strands.

As to their conversation, she gave him a nod at the compliment before turning back to her coworker, pointing at something on the other's files before pointing out something on her own.

Aaron knew the dismissal and kept on walking, a little surprised at himself. At one point, just the sight of Madeline would have made his heart soar, made him crave her attention as he tried to think of how to properly woo such an intelligent woman with words that seemed to stutter even in his own brain.

After their divorce, he hadn't been able to look at her without feelings of hurt, rejection and betrayal. But now? Now there wasn't even a hint of the old heartache that used to be there and he likely had Iranda to thank for that, in a good way.

Perhaps he owed Madeline a bit of thanks as well? If she hadn't divorced him to focus on her career, then Aaron would never have met Iranda and also would never have had his three younger children or possibly would never have been able to adopt Dram either. Madeline had unfortunately made it clear that she did not want children, not only during their dating phase but also after their marriage and she'd made it especially clear at their divorce proceedings where she'd signed over full custody of Z'neth to Aaron.

There had been days where Aaron suspected she'd only had Z'neth just to make Aaron happy, as he'd wanted to start a family as strongly as she hadn't. But that was unfair to Madeline for him to think that, even if it seemed to have some truth to it.

Mentally shaking his head free of the cobwebs of the past, he approached the front desk to handle the business he'd came here on.

Life didn't stop after all, it simply progressed.


	38. Wired

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Gangryn was delighted beyond measure.

Even though the raid itself on Airlandis had been an overall failure, some small victories had been gained. Namely, one of the city's supporting amber generators had been destroyed, exploding in a spectacular fashion that had the humans scrambling faster than the mutant had ever seen them move.

And still better, some of the smarter dark dramen had been able to secures pieces of the machine, which had then been surrendered to Gangryn once they were all back at Warnado. The skinny scientist had nearly danced at the sight of the broken machine laid out on one of his many work tables.

Carefully picking one bit up, he turned it around and examined it from all the angles he could, murmuring to himself as he saw how this particular part had been wired and mentally figuring out where it would have been in the generator.

Between his own designs and this bounty, the chances were good that he could make a full-sized generator, perhaps one even better than those of the humans!


	39. Insanity

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

It was odd but there was something that Aaron and Dread Wing had in common.

Both had been accused of suffering from some form of insanity.

For Aaron, it was his dream of the Promised Land, or rather, the fact that he wanted humanity to return to Old Earth. The same Old Earth that many were content to think of as a barren and hostile wasteland, populated only by savage mutants and lawless dark dramen.

For Dread Wing, it was his dream of acquiring Airlandis, the flying golden city. Many believed him to be too obsessed with it, allowing his inherited kingdom to rot in the pursuit of a fantasy.

But both men had their reasons and both were determined to see their dreams come true, though only one was being careful of the 'how'.


End file.
